Unlocking color schemes isn’t much, but it is something you unlock and feel rewarded for your efforts. So by default, there are 3 colors (red, white and black for background) but you unlock options to change those colors with other pallets – like changing red to blue or even 1bit graphics where everything is black and white. There are two types of unlocks you can get (but you don’t know that when you start). That is because when you see that the next unlock is quite close – it adds to the feeling of “one more game”. This type of progression (aside from you getting further and further) can potentially improve players session length. You don’t know what it will be, only when it will happen. So, for example, for getting 1000 gems you will unlock something. And in my opinion, is a very smart thing.Īfter ending the run (dying probably) for all the gems you’ve collected (even spent ones) you get points that go towards unlocking new things. But the games caverns on the sides (that have those weapons pickups) allow you to visit them without breaking the combo or depleting the time on the “gem high” and take a deep breath. Going into shops also doesn’t reset your combo. To get all the benefits of the things I listed above you need to sustain a fast tempo for some time. In my current understanding, to make sustaining combos easier for yourself you are good to go with the first gun and don’t want to change it – but taking damage and the need for more ammo may change your decision. This is probably was the main intended fun way to play the game, but it surely needed some motivations for the players to get better at this skill and those big rewards definitely help with that. But after getting better and better – it will pay off. But going for those high combos you will probably be completing less of the game and losing more health per floor at first. Getting higher combo gives you more different stuff like energy or extra health.
(This is not explained anywhere, though, except if you get 5 or higher it is displayed over you, but it is easy to miss) Because you get refilled after stomping on enemies, you can kill a bunch of enemies without touching the ground – building up your combo. Because of it, you will get +100 gems for 8 kills in a row without touching the ground. Combo systemīut for more advanced play there is also a combo system in place.
But the bar slowly decreases, and when it reaches 0 you will have to collect 100 gems again to enter this state so this mechanic definitely motivates you to go faster and not just take your time with each and every enemy. After that, you become “gem high” and all gems you get in that state are doubled. This is a system where after getting gems your “gems bar” fills up to 100 gems. There are a couple of things that motivate the player to go faster – “gem high” and the combo system in particular. When you understand those systems and want to make use of them – it will increase the difficulty of the game (which is your choice by the way) because of the increased requirements for your reaction and dexterity. When you pick up a weapon, you know what weapon will it be (unlike Super Crate Box) and for changing your current one you will get either a +1hp or +2 ammo that can be worth it. In SCB, you only get points for changing your weapons but here the game still leaves a place for choice. Well, the creator of the game though about it and used a mechanic similar to Super Crate Box where you are “forced” to take new weapons. Forced Choicesīut maybe you don’t want another weapon – why change it? There are situations where you may not want that – I will go into that a bit later. There are guns like a shotgun or a laser that spend a lot of ammo but mostly one-shot enemies. Every shot of this gun spends one ammo and shoots one bullet.īut to help with weapons different feel, other weapons spend another amount of ammo and shoot different types of shots. When you start, you have a machinegun and 8 bullets that are refilled when you touch the ground or stomp enemies. The next neat system of this game is the ammo system.
Even the shooting itself has a lot of uses:īut also there are a bunch of different weapons that change up the gameplay during the run. Weaponsīut the game is not as simple as it seems. Note: This review will probably spoil part of the fun of the game – so I would recommend just go and play it first.Īt a first glance, Downwell is too simplistic in its appearance and mechanics: you just jump, shoot while in the air and can glide/walk left or right. And also come up with ideas about the not so great parts.ĭownwell is a rogue-like vertical scroller where you use your gunboots to kill enemies, collect gems and get to the bottom of the well. In the Design Review series, I try to take game systems apart and see what is great about them.
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